This Week in PLoS Medicine: Water and Sanitation; Improving definitions; Road crashes and trauma

This is a big publishing week for PLoS Medicine, as we publish the final two pieces of our collection on Water and Sanitation , an article on research definitions and two articles focusing on road traffic crashes.

This month PLoS Medicine publishes a four-part series highlighting the importance of water and sanitation issues. In the first article, Jamie Bartram and Sandy Cairncross argue that the massive burden of ill health associated with poor hygiene, sanitation, and water supply demands more attention from health professionals and policymakers. In the second article, Paul Hunter and colleagues argue that much more effort is needed to improve access to safe and sustainable water supplies. David Trouba and colleagues discuss the importance of improved sanitation to health, and in the final article, Sandy Cairncross and colleagues outline what needs to be done to make significant progress in providing more and better hygiene, sanitation, and water for all.

Robert Terry and colleagues present working definitions of operational research, implementation research, and health systems research within the context of research to strengthen health systems.

Donald Redelmeier and colleagues conducted a population-based case-control study of 16-19-year-old males hospitalized for road trauma or appendicitis and show that disruptive behavior disorders explained a significant amount of road trauma in this group.